Smoke and fire make it difficult and sometimes impossible for fire fighting personnel to view a fire scene. As such, living victims can be overlooked, and dangerous surroundings such as obstructions, weakened structures, open floors, and stairs can present an extreme personnel hazard. The present invention comprises an imaging system that allows fire-fighting personnel to view images through the smoke and fire.
There are several drawbacks to even the most modern and sophisticated of thermal imaging systems. First and foremost is that the intense heat from a fire obscures any thermal signature that may be behind the flame front. Thus a baby or another firefighter may not be saved because the firefighter scanning the room didn't see them. Second is that objects without a thermal signature such as downed electrical cables or fallen/damaged structural elements are virtually invisible and thus may easily be overlooked by the firefighter hurrying to save someone's life. Finally, the detected 8,000 to 14,000 nanometer radiation does not penetrate through glass or water. For this reason a thermal imaging system cannot be used remotely from outside of the building or structure. Additionally, the thermal bloom from a fire renders thermal imaging systems virtually useless for objects behind the flames. Furthermore, these systems cannot see through glass or water and only allow the firefighter to see objects with a thermal signature such as the fire and the victim but all other obstacles or impediments that may cause the firefighter to be injured are not visible at all.
Combined LIDAR and RADAR technology is known in the art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,822,047 is directed to a modulated LIDAR system, in which a laser for generating an optical carrier signal and a microwave generator for generating a coded microwave signal are provided. A modulator is further provided for modulating the carrier signal with the microwave signal, whereby a modulated signal is generated. A method of detecting a reflective surface is also disclosed, in which an optical carrier signal is generated, the carrier signal is modulated with a coded microwave signal, the modulated signal is reflected off of a reflective surface and the reflected signal is recovered.